Everybody Leaves
by lionheartedbookworm
Summary: "You'll leave...everyone I love...always leaves." His voice shakes. "Everyone." He grounds out. "I refuse...I refuse to let you leave." He speaks like a child trying to get his way, trying to make things happen to how he wants it to.


"Rora?"

His voice makes her nearly leap out of her skin. It's ragged, like he had been screaming, like he was afraid.

She turns around, one hand resting on the rail of the ship, the cold ocean breeze brushing her curls out of her face. The low lamps lit by the crew were still flickering, casting shadows over the Jolly Roger. Killian looks haunted, the shadows making his face all sharp edges and hard lines. Her breath catches in her throat, and she tightens her grasp on the blanket around her shoulders.

"Killian..." Her words die on her tongue as he steps forward, footsteps heavy even without the boots he tromped around in. Her breathing quickens as he approaches her. His arms extend, but she feels threatened, as if he's a predator cornering his prey. She steps back against the rail, lips parting in surprise.

"Where'd you go?" He hisses.

"I couldn't sleep. I...I didn't want to wake you with my tossing and turning." She murmurs, biting on her lower lip. Calloused fingertips trace over her soft cheek, and she gasps in quiet surprise. Her blue gaze never leaves his face as he winds an arm around her waist and touches her face.

"Don't...don't ever leave me. Never again." He grips her tight around the waist, pulling her flush against him in a possessive grasp. The blanket falls from around her shoulders, revealing the shapeless, modest white nightgown she had brought aboard with her. He leans close to her, his nose brushing hers.

"What's wrong, Killian?" She whispers, pulling her face away from his. He's not like himself. When she had slipped out of bed for fresh air, he had been fast asleep. He hadn't been in a cuddling mood, and had pushed himself up against the wall. The sea hadn't been restless today, but Killian had. Now, his icy blue eyes were wild, desperate. Something wasn't right. "Tell me." Her hands smooth over his chest, his skin hot beneath the haphazardly thrown on shirt.

Killian shakes his head, fingertips moving down her neck. She gasps quietly as he tilts her head back, fingers kneading over her pale skin. He can feel her pulse rapidly thudding away beneath his touch, can feel how her breathing shifts. She's so pliable beneath his touch, so soft, so pure. He could snap her in an instant, could break her. It was be so easy.

Instead, he kisses her neck. "I had a nightmare." He mouths into her skin. Her skin is cold, but sweet. He could spend days devoted to devouring her, tasting every bit of her and holding her in his arms so tightly until she molded into his body, until she would never be allowed to leave.

"Killian, Killian, please." She whispers, her voice wavering as she pulls herself away from his lips. Her small fingers grasp his cheeks in her hands, forcing him to lift his head, forcing him to end his torturous path on her skin and look up at her. "Talk to me."

He almost shoves her hands away, almost returns to her skin, almost refuses to speak. She's a weak little thing. He didn't have to listen to her. She was a little bird, something he could easily crush beneath his boot. And yet, her touch made him weak. He couldn't deny her anything. He was so weak for this little princess with her lionheart. She might have been small, might have been physically fragile, but her heart, her spirit was not.

Aurora furrows her eyebrows together from the tortured expression on the pirate before her. His hands clutch at her tighter, pulling her closer, if possible. It's surprising when he whimpers, and suddenly, his head is pressed into her neck, and he's clutching her so tightly, his breathing so shaky, that it scares her. "Please...don't ever leave me again, 'Rora." His voice shakes as he fights off the onslaught of tears. Suddenly he's a little boy again, running to his mother out of fear of his father, out of fear of the shadows and the nightmares.

"Killian...shh...I'm not going anywhere." Her lips press into his forehead, and she runs her fingers through his raven locks as she holds him tightly. "Hush...Killian, it's alright. It wasn't real. Whatever...whatever your mind made up, it wasn't real, I swear to you."

"You'll leave...everyone I love...always leaves." His voice shakes. "Everyone." He grounds out. "I refuse...I refuse to let you leave." He speaks like a child trying to get his way, trying to make things happen to how he wants it to.

She sighs, and presses her cheek into his hair. "Killian...haven't I proven to you that I'm not leaving?" She picks his head up again, despite how it sinks beneath her touch, how his blue gaze remains lowered away from hers. "I love you, Killian. Despite everything, I do." She manages a weak little smile.

"'Rora..." He whispers, leaning into her touch as he finally looks up at her. "How...how can I know that you won't leave, that you won't realize this life isn't what you were meant for...how can I know that you won't wake up one day and leave me, that you won't love me one day?" He babbles.

"Kiss me, Killian." She breathes. "Kiss me, and you'll know that what I say is true, that nothing...nothing could tear me away from you." When the nightmares sought her out, when they tortured her and left her a screaming, shaking mess, this was his solution. He kissed her fears away, chased them away with his mouth and the ferocity of his possessive love. It frightened her, and thrilled her all at the same time.

He doesn't hesitate. His mouth crashes upon hers like the waves upon the shore, tastes her, drowns her, taints her, scars her. And when he pulls away, when he opens his eyes, she's there, all breathless and flushing cheeks and pink lips. Her thumbs caress his cheeks, and she leans up and kisses him slowly, drawing him into her touch and the feel of her lips.

"Let's go back to bed, Killian." She whispers as she reluctantly pulls away. "Let me chase away the nightmares. Let me show you...that I will never stop loving you, that I will never ever leave you." Her lips brush his, and she closes her eyes for a moment, his breath ragged against her mouth. "I promise."


End file.
